Want to pay tribute to 26/11 victims, Obama on Taj stay

US President Barack Obama has chosen to stay at the Taj Hotel in Mumbai when he arrives on Saturday as a "tribute to the resilience of the Indian people" and to underscore the shared commitment of India and the US to counter terrorism.

"By staying at the Taj (hotel), I am pleased to pay tribute to the resilience of the Indian people, while also underscoring our shared commitment to counter terrorism," Obama said.

He was responding to a question as to what he was trying to convey by his gesture of landing in Mumbai and staying at the Taj Hotel, which was attacked by Pakistani terrorists in November 2008.

"One of the many things that our countries and our people have in common is that we have both been the victims of terrorism and we have both overcome it.

"Just like New York and Washington, Mumbai has shown an amazing resilience and demonstrated that free people cannot be defeated by terror," the president said.

He said it should not be forgotten that just as Indian citizens were killed in the attack on the World Trade Centre, so too, six Americans were killed during the attack on Mumbai. Also, one of the victims of the American Embassy in Kenya in 1998 was an American diplomat who was born in India.

"So Americans and Indians understand that terrorism can never be justified and must be defeated," he underlined.